The Mark of Athena
by PercyJRulez
Summary: What should happen after SoN, ramontic at first, but push through, it'll get better!
1. Reunion

**Hey everyone! I have no idea how often ill update, but reviewing always helps! The end may be kinda suggestive, but I swear, I mean it clean! Anyhow, R.R. owns all characters and blahbity-blah.**

**Annabeth's POV**

She didn't even know what to think. She thought she would feel absolutely ecstatic about seeing Percy again, but something just wasn't right. He looked distant, like the Roman world had become his world. He was still clearly a leader, with what she knew to be a praetor uniform on, and she felt a tear run down her cheek, but she didn't know if it was happiness or confusion. She stepped out of the Argo II into the sunlight, oblivious to the reunions going on around her. Her lips quivered.

"Percy," she whispered, then sniffled and he took a step closer, asking what was wrong. She quickly wiped away her tears, composing herself.

"Well, Hera stole you from me for _8 months_," Annabeth responded.

"You sure that's it," Percy asked, and she could see the concern in his eyes.

"Yeah," she said, "what else could it be?"

He smiled, flashing her a stupid grin that made her giggle.

"Alright, but seriously, I'm okay. I haven't changed, at least, I don't think so. I still have a few holes to fill in my memory. I do know though, that whatever you're not telling me is gonna be okay," he assured her. The he kissed her forehead and gave her a tight hug.

"Umm, let me introduce you to the crew; Jason Grace, you've probably heard about him here, uh Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, he built the Argo II, with help of course, and Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, and a charmspeaker," introduced Annabeth.

"Hey guys, and uh, Jason, I believe this is yours," Percy said as he gave Jason his praetor cape.

Jason took it feeling the fabric like it brought back memories, when a strange look crossed his face and he asked the other praetor, a tall, dark haired girl named Reyna, "Where's Octavian, normally he wouldn't miss this."

"Oh. Yeah. Guys, bring him forward," said Reyna as she motioned for a scrawny, thin haired blonde boy to come out of the crowd. He had a crazed look in his eyes, and he was fiddling with fluff that looked like it came from a teddy bear. He kept muttering and looking at Annabeth.

"What… what's wrong with him, why does he keep looking at me like that?" asked Annabeth.

"The daughter of wisdom… the mark will burn, it burns across Rome. The daughter of wisdom," whimpered Octavian before he trailed off.

"Octavian has long claimed prophetic ability and he his prophecies were mostly correct, but this morning he had a true vision, and we fear it's driven him insane," explained Reyna.

"What did he see? What could've done that to him?" asked Piper

"Here is not the best place to talk about that," said Reyna, then she turned to the crowd and yelled, "Cohorts! You've had your time to see the arrival of the Greeks, now back to daily activities! No slacking!"

The crowd quickly dispersed, and Leo stepped up next to Jason and said, "We can go inside the Argo to talk. It's soundproof, and I'd prefer not to leave it sitting around."

Annabeth looked back at Percy, who she found staring at her. The removal of his praetor's cape made her feel a little better, and she hoped getting all his memories back would to, and to do that she would have to…, well she didn't know, but there was one thing she hoped would help. Well, two things.

"Come on seaweed brain, into the boat, son of Poseidon and you can't even get on a boat? Let's go, I've got some things to show you."

"Yeah, we'll do a tour before we discuss, uh, Octavian, we can drop him in the kitchen on the way in," Leo suggested.

Percy walked on, and Annabeth grabbed his hand, leading him to her room on the boat. It was small, and covered in maps of the Mediterranean with paths and theories marked out. She went a drawer and pulled out an envelope which she handed to him.

"She's been worried sick about you, _8 months_ Percy. We told her we knew where you were though, and she wanted us to give you this when we saw you."

Percy sat down on the bed, and she sat next to him, and he read the letter, it was from his mom. Annabeth knew what it said, nothing to surprising, I miss you, be safe, Iris message me kind of stuff. When he was done reading he looked up.

"Thanks, it feels good to hear, er, read her words, and know that she knows I'm O.K.," thanked Percy.

"Yeah, and one more thing, just in case," said Annabeth.

Percy cocked his head to one side, and she smiled.

"Perfect," she said, and then she kissed him, more fiercely than ever before, like she was putting 8 months of kissing into one. After a minute, she pulled away, and looked at Percy.

"That was the best thing that's happened to me in months," he said, smiling as wide as he could.

"Good," she replied, then she kissed him again, gently this time.


	2. Jayna

**Wow, even just 1 review inspired me ;) (hint, hint). Anyway, Jason-Piper-Reyna triangle! I promise it'll get more action-y soon for those of you sick of love! R.R. owns the stuff.**

**Jason's POV**

Jason had spent the entire trip to the Legion camp doing 2 things; 1. Keeping the boat flying and 2. Trying to figure out what to do about Piper and Reyna. From what he could remember, they had been going out when he disappeared, but not for very long, and not very seriously. He knew that he really liked her though, and that was a problem, since he really liked Piper too. The thing was; he knew that Reyna would kill Piper even before Piper was given the chance to back off, which he thought she would, she was just that kind of person. When they landed, Piper kept her distance, probably trying to figure out what exactly he and Reyna were. When they walked back into the Argo II, they forced into close quarters though, and both girls were a little too comfortable with that for Jason.

"Hey Sparky, glad you're safe, it's been hell trying to keep order without you, until Percy became praetor, that is," said Reyna, and Piper gave a little gasp at his being called sparky from right behind him.

"Please don't call me that, and I'm sure you did fine," replied Jason quickly.

"Come on, you know you like it, and I've called you that since before we started dating, so deal with it sparky," argued Reyna.

"Please," whispered Jason, "I mean… come on, I just got back, don't I get like, 1 request or something?"

He saw Annabeth and Percy shuffle back with the group, coming out of Annabeth's room, but really he had looked back to see if Piper was okay, and realized that sometime in the hall she passed him.

"It's not prison Jason, I'm calling you Sparky, so deal. Oh, and we have 2 new campers, but you might know them, I don't remember. Hazel, the newly living daughter of Pluto who makes cursed gems pop out of the ground, and Frank, the son of Mars who can turn into animals, so if you see a random weasel, don't kill it," said Reyna, then as he gave a short laugh she gave him a quick kiss.

"Hey, um, I'm gonna need to talk to you about something, but later, after the meeting, 'kay?" asked Jason, since he thought it was only fair she knew about Piper, after all, Piper knew about Reyna.

"Umm, yeah. sure. I guess," replied Reyna curiously.

Just then, the group stepped out onto the main deck, it wasn't huge, but Leo explained all the cool features.

"Yeah, so, we've got weather protection, a flat-screen over here, and oh! One of those machines with over 100 soda choices," explained Leo, "uhh, I guess now we go back to the kitchen and talk about crazy octopus dude."

"Come on Leo, the guy might have been driven insane, at least remember his name. Octavian… remember, like 5 minutes ago," commented Piper.

Jason noticed two demigods standing next to Piper. One Asian guy, with a pudgy face, but muscles, and a curly-haired girl with pretty, hot-chocolate colored skin, Frank and Hazel he guessed. Hazel was looking at Leo weird, like she'd seen a ghost. Frank noticed, and tried to take her hand, but she just shrugged it away distraughtly.

"Okay then," said Leo, noticing Hazel's stare, "To the… mmm, you, do I know you from somewhere?" he asked Hazel. She panicked, realizing that she had been staring and said,

"Not unless you were alive in the 1940s and living in New Orleans, err, well… you weren't were you, cuz you look like this guy I knew, and there have been issues with death lately, and... it," Hazel tried to say.

"You know what? I've never told anyone this, but… I'm a zombie. Yup, I'm only here to eat all of our brains. Just kidding, anyways, who knows where I know you from, but I've been told I look like a son of Hermes, so maybe that's who your guy was. No though, I was not living New Orleans in the 40s, at least as far as I know," replied Leo.

Jason led them to the kitchen where, of course, he ended up sitting in between Piper and Reyna. A bowl of pretzels was set out and Piper munched on a few as Reyna started.

"Well, you all know that Octavian had a vision this morning and has been incapacitated since. All we've been able to get out of him is what he said earlier, just ramblings about the daughter of Athena burning her mark across Rome," explained Reyna, and everyone looked at Annabeth.

"Hold, up. We can't take this too seriously, I mean there are other daughters if Athena, and there could be more to the vision but all he's saying is what would make the Greeks look bad. I mean, he hates Greeks," said Percy in Annabeth's defense.

"Agreed, frankly I think we should drop this subject, whatever it is, we can't stop it. Only pray and work towards a favorable ending," concluded Reyna, "but there is one other thing. 7 are to go on the quest, but 8 sit at this table. Who is not going?"

"Uhh, don't mean to be rude, but I, I think you're not going. Percy made it clear he wants Hazel and Frank by his side, and Piper, Annabeth and I are definitely going, Percy and Jason too obviously, so you're the odd man out," piped up Leo.

"I know, I just hoped you'd all say, 'no, 8s okay, you should come!' Guess not though, man I wish I was coming," agreed Reyna.

"I've done quests with more people than the prophecy said, and they ended up dead, it's really for the best if you stay," Percy assured her.

"Well that was fast, I guess it's time for goodbyes. We need every second we can get," put in Frank.

"Well, bye guys, be safe. But can I have a minute with Jason before you leave," requested Reyna.

"Sure," complied Annabeth, then they all left.

Jason and Reyna stood up and began walking back to the doors at the front of the boat, and Jason scrambled to think of what to say.

"Rey, I wish you could come, but there's something you should know. Its… well… before I got my memory back, uhh," began Jason, but Reyna started to tear up, which he'd never seen her do.

"No. No, you… you can't have… oh gods, another girlfriend!"

"No! No, I swear! I didn't cheat!" at this point, Jason felt himself tearing up, "I just… I don't know, there's just someone else I got close to, I don't want to hurt either of you so… I just need time to figure this out."

Reyna actually started crying then.

"Who is it? The daughter of Venus? She's very pretty. Don't even bother thinking about it though; I'd never be able to trust you again. We're over."

"No, come on! I didn't remember you!" argued Jason as she turned to leave, wiping her face before going back out into public

"Percy remembered Annabeth."


	3. We Have a Bird Problem

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but it's all good now 'cuz here's another chapter! Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns all characters and settings.**

**Leo's POV**

"Good morning demigods! This is your captain speaking, it is now eight o'clock and breakfast is now being served in, well, the kitchen. Anyways, see you there in fifteen," announced Leo over the Argo II's intercom. Then he went back to skillfully dodging flocks of Canadian geese, while whistling to some of his favorite tunes. A minute later he started singing,

"Maybe I need some rehab, maybe just need some sleep, I've got a-"

"Yes, to both of those, rehab on singing, and sleep, cuz you've been driving this thing constantly," said Jason as he walked into the cockpit.

"You've gotta be kidding! That was some beast Ke$ha, but yeah, I could use a few Z's. Maybe tonight. But I do have to get through a day before that," replied Leo

"Well then come on! I hear we have pancakes!"

They walked across the ship, talking and laughing, but Leo could tell something was wrong. Jason wasn't making retorts when Leo called him Sparky.

"Okay, seriously dude, what's wrong," asked Leo.

"What? Oh, man. I guess I'm not good at being discreet about problems."

"No, not really, but what's up, and please tell me it's not girly."

"It's Reyna, I told her about Piper-"

"Well that's the problem dude! You had two girls and you told them about each other," argued Leo.

"Come on man, be on my side here. Piper knew about Reyna, it was only fair Reyna knew about Piper. She just didn't take it well, and… we're done," explained Jason.

"Aw man, that sucks, and I guess you can't just start up with Piper now, I don't think she, or you, would do that."

"Yeah, I'll get over it though, but what about you, I mean, what's up with you and Hazel? Do you know her?" inquired Jason.

Leo walked in silence for a few moments, gathering his thoughts.

"_Aw, man. I gotta get a handle on this crap. The flashbacks, I didn't even tell them about it during the quest, I can't just drop that bomb now, but I've got to tell him something,_" thought Leo, and then he spoke. "No, just a weird feeling like I do. I might even like her, but she kinda looked like she was with that chubby Asian kid, what was his name? Frank Chang? No, Zhang, Frank Zhang."

"I don't know man, I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. Granted her expression was shock and desperation, but something there just looked… surprised, but in a really happy, confused- I don't know, just a feeling, and don't forget, I'm the guy who had TWO girls," encouraged Jason.

Leo glanced at Jason with a look that said, "Really? That's what you came up with?" Then they both busted out laughing. They turned the last corner before getting to the kitchen, but a sweaty, tired Percy ran into them, carrying Annabeth in a fireman hold a wielding his sword. Piper caught up with him with her knife bloodied, followed by Hazel, then Frank, firing off arrows at an unknown enemy.

"Jason! Leo! Thank the gods! We were worried it got you, it already wounded Annabeth pretty bad," said Percy through heavy breaths.

"Well, what the hell is it!" exclaimed Leo.

"A big ass eagle with a lion's butt!" exclaimed Frank.

"It's a…. it's called a… a griffon," mumbled Annabeth, struggling to stay conscious, when Leo noticed huge slashes down her back, oozing something.

"Percy, get her out of here, there's a safe room at the end of this hall with supplies. Go! We've got your back," ordered Leo as he pulled a bronze hammer that looked more like a meat tenderizer than hammer out of his tool belt, and Jason drew his lance.

Percy nodded at them, then jogged past them, redistributing Annabeth's weight as he passed. Leo and Jason rushed forward, seeing the griffon for the first time. It wasn't anything like Leo thought, but instead, a six feet tall on all fours eagle. Wicked sharp beak and claws like steak knives, stained with blood Leo assumed was Annabeth's, and powerful lion hindquarters, launching it forwards where it almost looked like it was skipping, the way it flew a little bit before it landed it's jump. It had a bunch of arrows sticking out of it in random areas, and Frank fired his last one that should've gone right in its heart, but something diverted the arrow to just grazing its thigh.

"That was the last arrow, guys! I don't have my sword, so, uhh, charge!" yelled Frank as he backed behind the line Jason, Leo, Piper and Hazel formed.

"On three?" said Piper.

"On three," agreed Jason, "One… two… three!"

Leo came forward first, delivering a blow to the beak, dazing the griffon. Then Hazel and Piper slid under its front legs, slashing at them, then stabbing at it from behind. Jason stepped forward, keeping the griffon back while Piper and Hazel went to work, eventually watching it blow away like dust in the wind.

"This is gonna be an interesting trip," said Leo, breathing heavy. "Oh yeah! We should probably go get Percy to come out of the closet now."


	4. Percy Gets Pissed

**Hey, new update, here we go! Let's get inside **_**MY**_** favorite character, Percy's head!**

**Percy's POV**

Percy scrambled through the first bag of supplies he found, desperately searching for some ambrosia and nectar. He quickly found some, and returned to the corner where he had set down Annabeth. Her eyes were rolling around in their sockets as he poured some nectar on the wound and tried to feed her the ambrosia. Soon her eyes refocused, but she was only aware for a moment before passing out. He wrapped a bandage around her lower back, where she had been slashed when jumped in front of the griffon for him. Percy wracked his brains, but he just couldn't figure out how it had gotten on the boat, or why the wound was oozing, griffon talons weren't poisonous!

"Percy! It's dead, you can come out now," yelled Hazel from the other side of the door.

Percy careful lifted Annabeth, and carried her to the door, which he kicked open. Percy turned to Leo.

"How did that thing get on," said Percy in a very menacing, serious tone.

"I don't know. I'm sorry. How is she?"

"I think she's okay, but I didn't think griffon talons were poisonous, so I don't know how treat whatever was on its claws," Percy responded.

"Well, let's put her back in her room, then… Piper? You charmspoke me back into life after seeing Hera, could you try to help Annabeth," asked Jason.

"Yeah, Percy? Let's go. You know where her room is right?" said Piper

Percy walked with Piper back to Annabeth's room, where he set her down on the bed and let Piper go to work. He couldn't bear watching though, and left. He went out onto the main deck where he'd set up a training dummy earlier, but found that Frank Zhang had beaten him to it.

"Oh! Hey man, sorry, I just figure that I need to get better as a swordsman. Gotta make dad happy, right," explained Frank as he sheathed his sword.

"Well don't do it for your dad, besides, being his son means you're a natural, like what you were just doing, that was sweet, the way you almost, like, faked a fake feint," complimented Percy.

"Uhh, yeah, uh, that's what I was going for. _Anyways_, how's Annabeth?"

"Piper is with her now, I think she'll be fine though, she's tough. But, um, can I run an idea by you? I don't want to tell everyone cuz I'm not sure how they'd take it, especially Hazel," started Percy.

"Um, I'm not sure why you need Hazel specially, but… yeah, what's up?"

"Well, before I got to camp Legion, in the Trojan War last summer, I knew that I would eventually have to fight Kronos, but before I did, I knew I would need an edge. So, Nico, Hazel's half-brother, convinced me to, um, take a dip in the River Styx," said Percy.

"Wait, in Greek myths, isn't that how Achilles became invincible," interrupted Frank.

"Yeah and how I did too, but that went away when I came to camp and swam in the little Tiber. But, the idea, is to get that back, for all of us, we'll need it to face down the giants. Invincibility, except for the one spot, but- you don't like it, I can see it in your face. You're right though, stupid idea," finished Percy.

"It's just that… I don't think we can risk anyone dying. I mean, do you want to risk Annabeth, cuz we'd have to go now, before we get to far away, and she's gonna be really weak for a while," agreed Frank.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Besides, who knows if I would even work for Romans?"

Frank walked away, and Percy drew his sword, slashing and hacking at the dummy, praying Annabeth was okay, and thinking about the quest. They still needed to find Nico, Annabeth might destroy Rome, and the kid who could conjure fire was bunking with the dude whose life depended on a piece of firewood! Eventually, Percy decided to follow Frank's example and train at what he wasn't good at. He grabbed a bow and arrow and shot wildly at targets until Jason walked up and watched him.

"Um, wow. Sons of Poseidon really don't have much talent for the bow and arrow, do they," said Jason.

Normally a comment like that wouldn't have bothered Percy, he wasn't good and he knew it, but Jason knew Annabeth was hurt, and it bothered him that Jason was making jabs him when his girlfriend was seriously injured.

"Come on man, can you cut me some slack, I mean, it's not like you're much better, Romans don't _like_ archers," retorted Percy.

Jason walked over and picked up the other bow and arrow. He launched five targets and hit every single one, dead center.

"Son of Jupiter, _king_of the gods. I can control the air, so, every arrow is on target," explained Jason with slight contempt.

"What's your problem man? What did I do? Why are you so pissed," asked Percy.

"Well, you replaced me. Did you live in my praetor house? You better not have touched my stuff! Plus, you could've left Annabeth in the safe room and helped us, but no, she's more important than us."

"Dude, I get you're mad about your girlfriend, but don't take it out on me and mine. I'm not apologizing for staying with my girlfriend, she saved my life and I wanted to make sure she kept hers. Oh man, what are we doing? This is probably just Gaea messing with us. Come on, we're stronger than that, don't let her influence you," reasoned Percy.

"We are 91,365 feet high. This. Ain't. Gaea. Maybe it's some instinct from our fathers, for me to dislike you, but why is it that the son of Poseidon brought down Kronos, that honor should've gone to a child of Jupiter. All I did was defeat Krios… Krios!" expanded Jason.

"Jason, seriously, sit down. Think about this. If we start fighting now, what will it be like once we get to Rome? You know what, I'll give you some space," said Percy as he started to walk away.

"Ha! Greece is weak, like it always was. It's greatest warrior walks away from a challenge. But wait, is that Greece, or is that your father? You always have the ocean to run away to, and when you don't, you can't fight," yelled Jason.

Percy turned around, drawing his sword. He could take insults to him, but maybe there was some truth to that instinct thing, because he wanted to kill Jason after he insulted his father.

"I didn't need water to defeat Kronos, I certainly don't need it to defeat you," he challenged as he went into battle with Jason.

It was an intense battle, nature fighting itself as Percy summoned a miniature hurricane and Jason summoned bolts of lightning. The rain somehow protected Percy from the lightning, but his wind wasn't doing as much as it normally would since Jason was struggling for control of that. A few moments later, Percy was aware of Frank, Piper and Leo coming onto the main deck, but he couldn't focus on them to tell what they were saying. He felt Jason and him being raised up by cushions of air, and Percy suddenly snapped to his senses as he realized the boat was leaving him behind. Unfortunately, with that epiphany his hurricane, and so, his air cushion, dropped out from under him and he fell, an unconscious Jason falling next to him.


	5. Someone Has A Vision

**Oh my gosh, sorry it's been so long since an update, but my laptop broke and I had to wait until my birthday to get a new one! I've read you're reviews and I'm really trying to take your advice to heart.**

**Hazel's POV**

Hazel watched in horror, helpless as Percy and Jason plummeted through the cool evening air. Suddenly, the Argo II plummeted downward, throwing the rest of them against the bow of the ship as Leo reached the cockpit and went into a nosedive in a desperate attempt to reach them before they hit the ground.

"Leo… " she whispered, but then caught herself, this was a crisis, she didn't have time to think about that right now.

On her right, Bobby had stood up and was aiming a soft-tipped arrow with a rope tied to it at Percy, who had now pulled Jason close, trying to wake him up. Just before Bobby fired, they vanished into thin air.

"NO!" yelled Annabeth, and she rushed forward, swinging her leg over the edge like she was about to jump.

"Annabeth!" screamed Hazel, lurching forward to grab the back of Annabeth's shirt as she clenched the rope and arrow, a determined, but terrified look in her face. She glanced over at Hazel, angry, but when she saw Hazel's look of desperation, it softened.

"I can't just…lose him again," she said.

"We can't lose you," replied Hazel.

Just then, Leo got the boat righted, and Annabeth fell of the edge back into the boat before she had the chance to jump. She was knocked unconscious, but Frank took a quick look and said that she had a mild concussion but would be fine in a few minutes. Frank then picked her up and went below deck to put her in her room, and after a few minutes they were flying smoothly.

Leo came out of the cockpit, a worried look on his face, and joined Hazel, Frank, and a very distressed Piper at a table. Hazel looked up, and they stared at each other for a minute, then Leo said,

"I saw from the cockpit. Do we know where they went?"

"Not a clue, but Annabeth almost got herself killed going after them. Tried to jump over the side of the boat, she'll be fine though," explained Frank.

"Probably some god messing with us, should I land just to be sure they weren't just, like, turned invisible or something?" suggested Leo.

"Is it safe?" asked Hazel.

"It doesn't matter, if they're down there we're not just going to leave them, we have to at least look," said Piper.

"Yeah, we have to be sure they're not still down there somewhere," agreed Frank.

3 miles away they found a retention pond and, because there seemed to be no other option, landed the Argo II there.

"Alright, I'll go east with Leo. And Piper, why don't you and Frank go more west," suggested Hazel, because she wanted some alone time with Leo."

"What about Annabeth, when she wakes up she won't be in good shape," argued Frank.

"I'm fine, I can guard the boat," said Annabeth as she walked out onto the deck, a little wobbly, but looking pretty good.

"I'm not sure I trust her alone in this state," Piper observed

"I'm a smart girl Piper, no matter how much I want to find Percy, I know that I'm in no shape to possibly be fighting Gaea, but I _can_ guard the boat," Annabeth retaliated.

"Sounds good to me, but we need to get going, who knows how they are, if they're even out there," said Leo in a worried tone.

"Alright," agreed Piper, "Frank and I will go more west, you Piper go more easterly."

They climbed off of the boat and through the murky water of the pond, trying to squeeze the water out of their clothes out as they entered the forest. Hazel drew her _spatha, _Leo a hammer out of his tool belt, at the ready if anything went wrong.

"Hey, Leo. I'm sorry about earlier when I was asking if you had lived in New Orleans," explained Hazel

"That's fine, I have been told I have a timelessly handsome face," Leo said jokingly, "but what _was_ that about?"

"You just look like a guy I knew, loved, actually, that's why I was so astonished."

"Oh, well, what happened with you two?"

She paused for a moment, picking up a small sapphire that had just appeared next to her, and rolling it in between her fingers she said,

"See this? If anyone but me touched it, terrible things would happen to them. It varies from time to time, but it's never good. It's because of this that I couldn't be near him. I was cursed. I cared about him too much to let anything happen to him, so I had to leave," she dug a small hole with her boot and buried the gem.

"That's both incredible and really sucky. Did you ever see him again?"

"Not until you. It's amazing how much you're alike. Same curly hair, skin tone, voice, sense of humor, and that twinkle you get in your eye when you tell a joke. His name was Sammy."

They walked in silence for a little while after that, before Leo broke the silence.

"Well, I don't think I'm 70, but who knows, maybe Sammy was, like, my grandpa or something. I never really learned about my grandparents, except that they didn't want me when my mom died."

He looked over at Hazel, and she looked back into his now sad eyes, seeing only the boy that she loved, seeing the boy that loved horses as much as she did, and, without thinking, stepped forward and kissed Leo.

"WOAH!" exclaimed Leo, stumbling backwards and tripping on a rock.

"Oh my gods! I'm so sorry, I just, I... I… I don't know what that was," stammered Hazel.

"What? No, not that, when you kissed me just then, I had a vision!"

"Of what?" asked Hazel tentatively.

"Well, I can't be sure, it just, gah, felt like, like… a memory, of… of you, and, and… and me," he glanced up at her and gulped, "in New Orleans."


	6. Frank

**OHMYGOSH sorry it's been so long since this got updated but I'm back! Let's not delay any longer, but as always Rick Riordan owns everything.**

**Frank's POV**

Piper and Frank trudged through the woods away from the boat, being careful to look out for any sign that the two boys had been or landed here. Frank wasn't sure what to think about Piper. Most guys would've thought she was hot (despite her efforts not to be), especially being the daughter of Aphrodite and all, but he was with Hazel and he really liked her. Then there was the charmspeak. Her ability to control people so easily was a little unnerving to Frank, so he didn't feel like he could totally trust what she was saying, but everyone told him she was a good person. He did feel bad for her though, he couldn't imagine how he would feel if he saw Hazel plummet to what should've been her death. He fumbled with the piece of firewood in his pocket that was his life force and wondered, as he often did, if his grandmother was still alive.

"There's no sign of them anywhere, but where could they have gone," said Piper, rubbing her forehead in distress.

"Maybe Jason regained consciousness and flew them away," suggested Frank

"No, when he has to carry someone, especially if he was just regaining consciousness it would've just slowed their fall."

"Well, it's almost time to meet back at the clearing to see if Hazel and Leo found anything, _and to keep an eye on Leo_," thought Frank.

Just then, they came to stream running through the woods, it was only a few feet wide and maybe ankle deep, but it was clear and smooth so they filled up their water bottles and drank. When they stood up, standing in front of them was the most beautiful woman Frank had ever seen. He couldn't describe her, as her appearance kept changing, but each change was more gorgeous than the last. At first she looked like an old teacher he'd had a crush on, then like various movie stars, and for a while, she looked kind of like Hazel. The woman wore an elegant red dress that seemed to change hue slightly as the woman's skin tone changed. Frank's mind went blank, and he couldn't remember how to speak quite correctly.

"Uh . . . uh. . . uh," was all that he could muster.

"Mother! What are you doing here, and stop drooling Frank," exclaimed Piper.

He shook his head, the world coming back into focus, and quickly wiped a thin line of drool off of his chin.

"Sorry, I uh, just, wow."

"Why thank you young man," said Aphrodite, as she waved her hand and caused a picnic blanket and nice meal to appear, "please sit down, there is much to discuss."

Frank, still dumbstruck, but with a growling stomach happily sat down on the picnic blanket and began to sip what he discovered was a Shirley Temple. He munched quietly while he listened to Piper and her mother talk.

"So, why are you here, not that I don't love your little visits, but usually there is an ulterior motive," began Piper

"Such a smart girl! But yes, I am here to bring news of Mt. Olympus. Manny of the gods will not be much help to you on this quest, I'm afraid. They are . . . sick. Their Roman and Greek halves are battling for control within themselves, so many are incapacitated by the pain that this causes. I luckily, am not very affected by this, aside from some minor headaches and so was able to come tell you. And of course, ask you how your love life is going!" replied Aphrodite.

"Mom! Besides, I'm sure you already know. Still trying to, 'keep it interesting' I see."

"Of course! I save my best for my children," explained Aphrodite, while pouring Frank more Shirley Temple.

"Wait, don't we need a god to be able to help us in case we face any more giants," asked Frank.

"And why aren't you affected," added Piper.

Aphrodite's beautiful face turned troubled, "Yes, you** will** encounter giants on this quest Frank, and you will need the help of the gods to defeat them." Then she looked up and smiled again, "Luckily, there are some who, like me didn't get changed much by the Romans and so aren't feeling as distressed by the split between their aspects."

"Like who," said Frank.

"That, my dear, is for you to discover on your own. Oh, look at the time! I really must be going, but first," she turned to Frank, her eyes changing from dark blue to brown, the color of Hazel's eyes. "You should know that I have taken particular interest in that daughter of Pluto you so like. You'll have to fight to keep her, in more ways than one," then she told Piper, "And your boyfriend, Jason, and the other one, Percy, are fine. You all should go on, they will join you eventually. You should head to New Orleans and seek out Calchas; Annabeth needs to speak to him about her stick-in-the-mud of a mother."

With that and a wave of her hand, Aphrodite and the picnic she had brought (including the shortbread cookie Frank was about to take a bite of) vanished in a puff of smoke. So, Frank and Piper picked up their things and began walking back to the _Argo II_. At first, they were too stunned with this new information about their loved lives to say much, but then something occurred to Frank.

"Wait, Hazel is from New Orleans. At least, when she was alive the first time."

"Yeah, so what, that should be an advantage to us that she knows the city. How much could it have changed in. . . 70 . . . years. Never mind," reasoned Piper.

"I'm just not sure that it would be good for her to go back there, especially with all that stuff about Leo-"

"Wait, what's going on between her and Leo?"

"You know, she thinks she remembers him from her past or something."

"Oh."

They then walked through the ring of trees that surrounded the retention pond where they had landed just as Hazel was stumbling aboard supporting a fragile-looking Leo. Annabeth rushed to Hazel's side and helped her support Leo's weight. They were taking him below decks to the infirmary when Frank and Piper made it aboard. Moments later, Annabeth and Hazel appeared back on the top deck and Frank hurried to Hazel's side.

"What happened? Is he okay," asked Piper

"He. . . had a vision and passed out," replied Hazel, and Frank could tell she was frightened. Whatever he'd seen had been important.

"What did he see," said Annabeth, "Was it Percy and Jason?"

"It was . . . New Orleans," answered Hazel, but Frank could tell she wasn't just scared, she was holding something back. Before he could say anything, Piper spoke up.

"Oh good! Frank and I had a run-in with my mom who told us to go to New Orleans. She said that the boys were okay and that they'll meet up with us later, so we should go on," explained Piper, "She also said that most of the gods would be out of commission because their Roman and Greek sides are fighting for control."

"So she didn't say anything else about Percy and Jason. She just expects us to trust that they will meet up with us eventually! When? Where are they," argued Annabeth.

"She didn't say, just that we, or you specifically needed to speak to some guy in New Orleans," said Frank.

"Calchas was the guy, and I'm sure that they're fine. I don't like my mother meddling in my _love_ life, but I trust her on this one. And the thing about Calchas, you're supposed to talk to him about your mother," added Piper

Annabeth had turned away and was looking out beyond the deck of the ship into the woods where Percy was supposed to have fallen, but upon hearing Calchas, she turned to face Piper.

"Calchas? He's dead. He was a seer, but during the Trojan wars he was defeat in a game of riddles by Mospus and died from grief. He's in New Orleans?"

Hazel had finally pulled herself together and said, "It's not so surprising, I mean, lots of people that are supposed to be dead have come back to life recently. If we're going to New Orleans to find someone though, we need to get there fast."

Everyone else gave her a confused look, and Annabeth asked her why.

"Am I the only one here who watches the news? There's a hurricane headed towards New Orleans. A pretty nasty one, category 4. They're evacuating the city, and both of our storm experts are gone."

Leo then appeared climbing out from below the deck, looking mostly fine, but still shaken up by whatever he had seen. Frank wanted desperately to ask what he had seen, but if Hazel didn't want to say, he felt he needed to respect that. There was something new in Leo, something in his eyes that made Frank uncomfortable. He stared at Hazel weirdly, like looking at her hurt and when Frank looked back at Hazel she was giving him the same look.

"_Oh my gods_," thought Frank, "_the vision, did he see himself . . . and Hazel? No, he can't really be Sammy, can he? How would that even be possible?"_

Leo apparently realized that he had been staring a little too long at Hazel, and looked up, giving a little laugh.

"So, did I hear that right? We're headed to New Orleans to find a dead guy and have to beat a hurricane there," said Leo, that grin that made Frank feel like Leo was totally insane and loved every minute of it.


End file.
